SAARCLAW & SAARC CJs conference focus on child protection

Thimpu, May 24: Top judges from eight SAARC member nations on Friday began discussion on constitutional guarantees available to children in the South Asian region and the challenges faced in enforcing child protection laws.

The 12th SAARCLAW Annual Conference and the 9th SAARC Chief Justices Conference began in Friday in Bhutan. Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir is representing India in the Chief Justices' conference, while Justice B A Khan, former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, is heading the delegation to the SAARCLAW conference.

The main focus of the conference was on child protection, and the confirmed topics of the conference included mapping of existing legal provisions related to child protection and identifying of gaps and challenges, child labour, sexual abuse and trafficking of children etc.

"The three-day conference will discuss and deliberate upon, amongst other things, the constitutional guarantees available to children in South Asian region and challenges faced in enforcing these guarantees through judicial action," Justice B A Khan, former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, told reporters.

"SAARCLAW is an association of judges, lawyers and legal academicians of South East Asian countries. It was established in 1991 to bring together legal communities within the region for close cooperation, promotion and exchange of ideas and dissemination of legal information," Justice Khan said.

He further said that over the years this association has functioned as the bonding factor between the SAARC nations, even during strained circumstances.

"Over the years this association has been a bonding factor even in strained circumstances and has been able to hold conference and seminars leading to promotion of goodwill and dissemination of legal information amongst legal community across the nations," Khan said.

The SAARC grouping consists of Sri Lanka, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.